This invention relates in general to packaging apparatus and deals more particularly with an improved cartoning machine for packaging filled, sealed bags or pouches in board cartons. The present apparatus is particularly adapted for packaging bags or pouches containing discrete loosely packed products which may be fragile and may, for example, be used for packaging bags of food products which range in weight from one ounce to one pound, such as potato chips, crackers and like snacks. Heretofore, such cartoning apparatus has usually utilized some form of mechanical pusher mechanism for inserting a bagged product into a carton. However, such a pusher mechanism is not wholly satisfactory for loading a bagged product of the aforedescribed type, because of the tendency of the pusher mechanism to compact the product or cause uneven product distribution within the bag. The problem associated with carton loading by pusher mechanism may be compounded when bagged products are delivered to a cartoning apparatus from a vertical form, fill and seal machine. Since bags are usually gravity filled in a vertical form, fill and seal machine there is a natural tendency for a discrete loosely packed product to accumulate within the lower portion of each bag resulting in an uneven distribution of product within the bag. When the bag is thereafter forced into a carton by a pusher mechanism further compacting of the product within one end of the bag may result. This uneven distribution of a bagged product often leads a consumer to conclude that a bag has been only partially filled resulting in consumer complaint. The present invention is concerned with this problem.